In this premium article below we cover some of the latest activities with printed, flexible batteries.

The electric vehicle business will grow rapidly to over $1.5 billion in 2029, with the largest percentage being batteries. However, that percentage will peak with cost reduction and some being replaced by supercapacitors.

IDTechEx Chairman, Dr Peter Harrop, discusses the rise of electric school buses with a focus on China and America

Cities are increasingly crowded: real estate is in short supply. Servicing buses needs to be as infrequent as possible and that means having the simplest powertrain, which is the pure electric vehicle.

Fuel cell vehicles are being trialled in mines, on farms, in construction, on roads, as boats, as trains.

The Battery Show is a unique opportunity for Tier 1 and Tier 2 suppliers in North America to showcase their capabilities in terms of electric powertrain solutions. With an impressive year on year growth, this event can be considered the main tradeshow to attend for those seeking to establish business relations in the EV industry.

IDTechEx attended Imperial College's Composites Centre showcase event on 24th September 2018, which saw the centre open it's doors to a range of commercial, research and government organisations.

IDTechEx attended and presented at the International Aerogel Seminar held in Hamburg, Germany, between the 24th and 26th of September.

IDTechEx attended the Global Power and Energy Exhibition in Barcelona from 17 - 20th September 2018

Key areas discussed and displayed at the LCV event include the battery, powertrain, lightweighting, autonomous driving and electric vehicle charging, from not only the technology but also business model and policy perspectives.

This is a technological megatrend. Dumb load-bearing metal structures move to plastic and composite and incorporate energy harvesting and storage material - massless energy. Indeed you could call some of it negative mass energy. Goodbye components-in-a-box.

AWE should be seen as part of a bigger picture. The next generation of zero emission electricity producing technologies has no huge steel and concrete infrastructure, so it can have much less cost and installation time and making it redeployable.

Consumer batteries such as those used in power tools, mobile phones and laptops are normally recycled/disposed after their service life - that's what we normally refer to as the 'end-of-life' of the batteries. However, retired car batteries that are no longer suitable for electric cars could still hold sufficient capacity for second life applications. The 'end-of-life' of an electric car battery needs to be redefined as they could be further used, for example, for another 10 years or even longer in various post-vehicle applications before they are finally recycled/disposed.

The Advanced Automotive Battery Conference (AABC) is a global series of conferences for companies and academics to present their latest research on Li-ion batteries for the auto industry. Every year it is held in Europe, the U.S. and Asia.

There has been a resurgence in interest and activity surrounding fuel cell technologies for stationary storage applications in 2018. In this premium article, IDTechEx looks at the most suitable technologies for off-grid power and explores the chemistry behind the use of ammonia as an off-grid fuel source in more detail.

In this premium article IDTechEx highlights some of the presentations analysts found interesting, with commentary, as well as shared insight on interviews undertaken with the market leaders and new entrants on the exhibition floor.

Some supercapacitors will become smart materials and be sold as feedstock by value added material companies such as Dow DuPont and Nitto Denko. Which companies and when is as yet uncertain. This is part of the emerging big picture for supercapacitors that will make even their materials a multi- billion dollar business.

Supercapacitor materials are rapidly improving by new routes. The active materials are the dominant part of cost and the cause of limitations such as flammability, toxicity, cost, energy density and self- discharge. Currently the active electrodes almost always consist of bulk "hierarchical" carbon with a range of pore sizes, often made the old way from botanical materials.

In this article IDTechEx gives a short overview of the topic of wide bandgap semiconductors covering the fundamental material science, the key players, the market potential. The impact on a range of applications will also be discussed, with a focus on renewable energy systems and microgrids.

IDTechEx attended the event last week to meet with key stakeholders including industrial OEMs, power module manufacturers, established semiconductor companies and innovative new GaN (gallium nitride) and SiC (silicon carbide) developers to report back on the current and future trends. The following article is the second of two parts and provides a summary of some of the key GaN related developments and at the event and their impact on various industries and applications.